4 years ago is still the past and a long time in the career of a rugby league player, I wouldnt have a problem with Salford signing him if he was still on top of his game but he clearly isn't.

It's in the past and he is past his best but he was chosen as the best player in the world in 2010. He's clearly still good enough to play for Salford if they could get him at a reasonable wage. (Though I don't see him moving for a "reasonable wage").

edit: Salford have quite a few players that were big names a few years ago but aren't quite what they used to be. It seems odd to criticise Marshall for this when they signed Adrian Morley and Meli.

Marshall would be a wonderful signing, exactly the sort of signing we should be looking for in SL. All power to Dr K. He'll be so happy to be released from kicking for touch and watching scrums all day he'll be chomping at the bit.

He will be infifnitely superirior to an up and coming junior in the short term....but in the mid to long term a club should have a succesion plan to ideally replace Marshall inside of year two.

Failing that, he is well capable of 'getting buy' like so many champion players with what's between his ears for several years more...even if the legs are tired.

If you had Chase and Marshall in one team...the solution is obvious.....you release chase for someone else.....Chase at his best is a poor mans Marshall.....Golden Boot World Cup NRL Grand final Dally M candidate.

A short term fix,Salford sent their best half back on a season long loan to Castleford.Maybe they should be looking at building for the long term,rather than the here and now.

you may be right but I often think that building for the long term also includes having experience and maybe ex very top class players that can still perform at a reasonable level that can help the building for the long term. So maybe its seen as part of building for the long term in having a short term team that can better perform to bring youngsters and other signing into.

Mind you I tend to think it's more about getting media attention than a serious proposal but good luck if it happens.

Was a class player 5-6 years ago, today he's a busted flush. Salford would be better served in the long run investing that money on junior teams in and around Manchester trying to unearth their own benji Marshall's.

I agree that junior development should be top of any clubs agenda. If Koukash can afford to pay Benji and develop players I think it would be good for the game around the Salford/Manchester region. Creating a higher profile and having a competitive team would give the club's junior development a massive boost.

Wish more people would understand this. Structure wins RL games, off the cuff play doesn't.

I think that's too sweeping a statement. Jonathan Thurston certainly wins games with off-the-cuff play and Marshall did in his prime years. The key is to be able to play in a structured fashion when necessary, which is what Rangi Chase and the current version of Marshall don't seem to be able to do with any kind of regularity.

If Luke Walsh is the new Sterling and Bowen can score long distance tries in the SL, Benji would light up the competition like a great big fireworks display on a v dark night in a place with low air pollution.

I think that's too sweeping a statement. Jonathan Thurston certainly wins games with off-the-cuff play and Marshall did in his prime years. The key is to be able to play in a structured fashion when necessary, which is what Rangi Chase and the current version of Marshall don't seem to be able to do with any kind of regularity.

Everything Thurston does is within a structure. He runs with the ball generally has 3 options too pass to and will do whatever piece of skill to put one of them through a gap or for himself to break the line. Just because he does a fancy flick or a step doesn't mean that what he does hasn't got any structure to it, because his play is dictated by structure.

Chase and Marshall don't know what they are doing and neither do their team mates. They never have any consistent runners playing off them. Although the opposition don't know what they are going to do it's very easy to play against over the period of a game. They make one try with a piece of magic or whatever but in reality it never wins games on a consistent basis IMO. That's why Chase never worked playing for England.

Everything Thurston does is within a structure. He runs with the ball generally has 3 options too pass to and will do whatever piece of skill to put one of them through a gap or for himself to break the line. Just because he does a fancy flick or a step doesn't mean that what he does hasn't got any structure to it, because his play is dictated by structure.

Chase and Marshall don't know what they are doing and neither do their team mates. They never have any consistent runners playing off them. Although the opposition don't know what they are going to do it's very easy to play against over the period of a game. They make one try with a piece of magic or whatever but in reality it never wins games on a consistent basis IMO. That's why Chase never worked playing for England.

Great player in his day but having watched virtually all his matches from the past two seasons, I reckon he probably had a handful of good games and that might be being generous.

If true, and it probably isn't, would be a huge risk if Dr K were to bring him in on a big contract. The doctor might have money to burn but he hasn't got salary cap space to burn. If that's what the marquee player rule would be used for by Salford, let's not be hasty bringing it in.

Koukash won't be satisfied until he has brought a bonafide ' Marquee ' name in to the club. if not this season , next

I doubt it will be Marshall , but as usual the Koukash publicity machine is again in full swing both in the SL press & in Sydney - Auckland.

I also find it incredible at only 29yrs old people are writing Benji off .( golden boot 2010. 2011 Dally-M Standoff , ) yeah I'd hate to see him play SL ....

I wouldn't write him off yet but if we're going to throw silly money around, I'd like it to be spent on a current bona fide star who is more of a sure thing.

Benji is coming off a bad period at Wests and what sounds like an unsuccessful go at RU. I'd be hoping to get him on the (relatively) cheap, not be throwing bags of cash at him.

For me, he's one of the most exciting players I've ever seen and when he's 'on', he was untouchable and mesmerised the best defences. But after watching two years of him being out of sync with the rest of his team, throwing wayward passes and showing great reluctance to take on the line, he isn't the player I'd build a team around. That's not to say he wouldn't be a great addition to SL but not on a huge salary. He either needs to regain some of his old magic or go the Lockyer route and be a great decision maker late on in his career.

I think he was looking at a million dollars per year when he left Wests. Not sure what that is in sterling but I think it's around £600,000. That's a big old gamble if that's what he's still looking for.

Koukash can't sign Marshall because of the salary cap and he knows it. It is just more publicity seeking nonsense from the dodgy egomaniac.

I thought Koukash had said he wanted to sign a top RU player after declaring war on RU after they signed Burgess. Does Marshall count as a top RU signing or would his signing be in addition to a top RU name?